Energy abounds in our Lower School music and movement classroom, where implementation of the Orff Schulwerk, Kodaly, Phyllis Weikart and Dalcroze teaching methodologies ensures that students benefit from best practices in music education. The program emphasizes speech, singing, movement, improvisation, instrumentation, music reading, composition, careful listening and a general understanding of musical concepts. These approaches foster creativity while conveying musical knowledge and skills, all of which are on display when our Lower Schoolers perform in grade-level plays, the annual Holiday Program and other special events.

Beginning in the third grade, students can elect to take strings as their music class and to join the Lower School string orchestra, a group that performs classical, jazz, rock and pop music at concerts, school assemblies and Pace events. These students learn the same music theory offered in the general music and directly apply music that knowledge as they learn an instrument. Students are not required to have previous musical experience before entering the program and can choose from the violin, viola, cello or bass. All string orchestra students learn the fundamentals of reading music, proper technique, improvisation, creative composition and music history.